Jeremy's Birthday
by damndaybreaker
Summary: It's Jeremy's birthday, and after all that they have been through they deserve a party. Stefan has moved on, and so has Elena. Nothing could go wrong.. could it? A short story.


_Dear Diary,_

_Tonight, everything will change. I can feel it. Tonight I will become myself again. The ache of so much loss will no longer haunt me with every breath I take. Caroline's throwing a party tonight, since it's Jeremy's birthday. We're being forced to put on our best normal façade. Damon's accompanying me. I'm falling more and more in love with him. I never knew I was capable of this much love. He's really learned from his mistakes. With everything that's happened recently, we need a night of fun. I just hope Damon won't go into an attack like Rose did… Not until after the party. I don't think I'd be able to stop him._

_Xo, Elena_

Elena sighed and stuffed her diary under her pillow. Seeing Stefan tonight with Caroline would be hard. Being with Damon had hurt him, but she didn't think he'd get over it –and get with her best friend- so quickly. She got up and slipped off her clothes and into her pale blue silk dress. It was simple, yet very Elena. She heard a whistle and turned around to find Damon leaning sexily against the doorframe. Elena eyed him up. He was dressed in a black suit that was tailored to fit him perfectly. His hair was neatly done but still had a shaggy, bad-boy look to it.

"You look beautiful." He said as he crossed the room and took Elena's hands. Damon was so gentle with her now. The bite had woken him up and made him realize that every moment he had, was something he needed to treasure. He didn't know how many moments he had left. Elena blushed red. She always got butterflies when she was around Damon. "Are you ready to go?"

Elena took a deep breath, put on her best 'I'm-fine-thank-you' look. "Ready." Damon leaned in, his hair moving into his eyes and kissed her lips gently. When their lips touched, Elena expected it to feel like fireworks, like it was with Stefan. But there were no fireworks. There were atomic bombs going off, volcano's erupting, ten thousand magnitude earthquakes shaking everything. Never in her life had she had a first kiss so powerful and breathtaking. When they finally pulled away from each other, they just stood there and stared into each other's eyes. Elena didn't know what to say. She'd never experienced something like that before. "Wow." She finally breathed out. It was all she could muster. Damon smiled his sexy half-smile. "Let's go".

The trees were covered in twinkling lights. Tonight was about more than just Jeremy's birthday. They were celebrating being alive and making it through everything they had. They were celebrating love and life and friends. It was the perfect setup for the perfect night. But somewhere in her heart, Elena couldn't help but think of Stefan and if he still missed her.

Inside, the house was decorated beautifully in various shades of blue and green. It was so Caroline to go all out on this.

"Elena!" Caroline shrieked as she ran down the stairs and hugged her. Caroline was dressed in a short hot pink dress that showed off her cleavage. Was she trying to show off for Stefan? Elena didn't care. She couldn't control their relationship. Elena had chosen to leave Stefan for Damon so she had to suffer the consequences. "You look beautiful Elena." Caroline smiled at Elena and for a moment, they were 15 again. Ruling the school, and gossiping nonstop. They were throwing all the coolest parties and wearing all the coolest clothes and all the girls were jealous of them. But that was a long time ago. Before the Salvatores had come to town. Back when things were simple.

Caroline got the party going quick. There were more people there than Elena had expected. It seemed that Caroline had invited all of Mystic Falls. It had been 3 and a half hours and Elena still hadn't seen Stefan. Maybe he was avoiding her.

"Care to dance?" Damon smiled and held out his hand to Elena. Elena smiled back at him as best as she could and took his hand as he led her out onto the dance floor. A slow song had come on and all the couples were getting close. Damon pulled her to the very middle of the room and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. As they started to dance, Elena noticed her friends around the room. She saw Dana and Matt whispering in a corner, and Bonnie and Tyler sneaking off to another room. A couple feet away from her were Jeremy and Anna dancing closely. Elena's heart stopped for a minute. Right there, just inches away from her and Damon was Caroline and Stefan twirling and laughing. He was happy. That was all she needed to see. Suddenly, Elena didn't feel so annoyed that he had lost his feelings for her so quick. They could be friends again. Everything could be right again.

Elena lifted her head off Damon's shoulder and smiled into his eyes. "Damon?" Elena wasn't sure what she wanted to say. The words were just coming by themselves. Elena could see Jeremy and Anna kissing out of the corner of her eye. They had been glued to each other's hips ever since Anna had pulled a Katherine and came back to town, not really having died. Elena didn't forgive her for breaking her brother's heart. She didn't know if she ever would, but Jeremy was fine with it.

"Yes?" Elena had completely forgotten about Damon for a minute. Damon stroked her cheek and she felt as though it was on fire. Elena was about to say something she had been feeling for a long time, but had been denying it for so long. It was time to come out with it.

"Damon, I.." Damon's eyes glazed over and turned red. Veins became visible under his eyes. He was having an attack. This was Elena's worse nightmare. They were in the middle of the room. She had to get him out of here quick. Elena looked to her side "Katerina. You betrayed me." Damon was hallucinating. Where was everybody? Stefan and Caroline were gone. So were Anna and Jeremy. Elena grabbed Damon's hand and started running for the stairs. She needed to get him locked off in a room. Somewhere where he couldn't hurt anybody. Elena ran up the stairs, pulling a babbling Damon behind her. Elena nearly ran into Jeremy at the top of the stairs.

"JEREMY!" Elena could feel her throat closing off and tears coming to her eyes. She was trying not to listen to Damon, but it was hard _Let me go. You're nothing but a traitor and a backstabbing bitch. _"Jeremy, help me. He's having an attack. Find Stefan and Caroline." As if they had heard her, Caroline and Stefan came running up the stairs. People were partying and dancing downstairs oblivious to how much danger they were in.

Damon started running around knocking over furniture and pictures. Stefan came behind him and grabbed his arms. "GET OFF ME! You got Katerina. Be happy and leave me alone!" Elena burst into tears. She couldn't watch Damon like this. She could feel the room start to spin, but steadied herself. She felt Bonnie grab ahold of her while Jeremy and Tyler ran past them to corner Damon.

Elena would never forget what happened next. Stefan lost grip of Damon and all went wild. Not a piece of furniture was left untouched. Damon had never been so scary and animalistic. Tyler crossed the room in one leap and pinned Damon to the ground. Stefan and Jeremy ran over quickly and pinned him to the wall quickly.

"Snap out of it Damon!" Shouted Jeremy. Damon screamed a loud bellowing scream that seemed to shake the walls. "YOU!" Damon shouted at Jeremy. Elena tried breaking free from Bonnie and Caroline but they were holding her in a death grip.

"Damon, NO!" yelled Elena even though she knew it was hopeless. Damon turned animalistic. He snapped his head around and sank his teeth into Jeremy's neck. Tyler and Stefan tried to grab him but it only edged Damon on more.

"DAMON!" everyone shrieked. Stefan lunged for him and Damon's head whipped up as he grabbed his brother by the collar and threw him to a wall. It was clear no one was going to stop him. Damon took one last drink from Jeremy's neck, then with a horrifying snap, broke his neck. Jeremy fell with a thud to the floor and lay motionless, a pool of blood forming around his neck. Damon stood above him, with a shocked look on his face. The blood was dripping down his chin. Old Damon was back.

"JEREMY!" Elena threw herself at her brother. Her hands moved hurriedly and tried to find a pulse. There was none, Jeremy was gone. Elena collapsed on Jeremy's chest and sobbed. She felt another body beside her crying with her. She didn't have to look to know it was Anna.

Everyone was silent. No one said anything. After a minute, Elena wiped her eyes and looked up at Damon, a look of utter disgust on his face. "Elena, I'm so sorry. I.. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know who he was. He.. I'm sorry." Damon had never looked so sad in his life. Elena stood up and walked to Stefan and Tyler to check that they were okay. Damon hadn't done anything to harm them. As she was walking back to Damon, her dead brother's body caught her eye and she crumpled to the ground. She just couldn't take it. Damon caught her in his strong arms. She hugged to him. He may have murdered her brother, but she loved him. She needed him now more than ever.


End file.
